Texas Appellate Lawyer & Attorney : D. Todd Smith Law Firm : Appeals, Sanctions, Summary Judgment : Austin, Texas

Hat tip to the Supreme Court of Texas Blog for pointing out that the Court has enabled RSS feeds via its home page.  As the following screenshot shows, the subscribe button is located just above the Court's photo.

The feeds include news and updates, as well as information from the Court's calendar.  This is yet another effort to make Court's workings more transparent and accessible to the public.

For a plain-English explanation of RSS, watch the following video.

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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has named my friend Andrew Weber (pictured) First Assistant Attorney General.  He replaces Kent Sullivan, who Governor Perry recently appointed to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals.

Aside from his legal skills, Andrew is a heck of a nice guy.  He is well known to appellate lawyers throughout the state because of the three years he spent as Clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. 

Congratulations, Andrew!  Well done.

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The Texas Supreme Court decided seven new cases with this week's orders.  For details, please see Osler McCarthy's case summaries, which I have made available here.

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The Review of Litigation, a student journal at the University of Texas School of Law, has asked me to help promote its upcoming symposium entitled “The Rise of Appellate Litigators and State Solicitors General.”  Timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Texas Solicitor General's Office, the symposium will explore the creation of state solicitor general and state appellate chief positions, as well as matters significant to private appellate practitioners.

The symposium will take place on January 22-23, 2009, in the Eidman Courtroom at UT Law School.  Admission is free, and CLE credit will be provided for a reasonable fee.  More information, including how to register, is available here.

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Dealing with the ever-present problem of conflicting deadlines, I recently filed a motion for extension of time to file a reply brief in the Third Court of Appeals here in Austin.  My opponent kindly agreed to a 30-day extension, which I determined would be more than sufficient to get the brief done and manage my other cases.

Several days later, I was surprised to receive a notice from the Court that my motion had been granted "in part" and that I would be receiving an additional 20 days—rather than the 30 I had asked for—to file my brief.

I happened to speak to a long-time acquaintance in the clerk's office today, and he explained that the Court is tightening up on extensions somewhat.  In the past, the clerk's office had authority to grant first and second extensions for up to 90 days total.  That authority has been scaled back to 60 days—apparently in an effort to keep the Court's docket moving.  Further extensions are possible, but will require that one of the justices grant the additional time.

I don't quite understand this move.  From everything I've seen and heard, the speed at which documents are coming in isn't an issue; it's the pace at which decisions are being put out.  Nevertheless, Third Court practitioners should be aware that the extensions we so often take for granted might not be as certain under this new policy.

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A sample of my microblog updates from the past week appears below.  As before, I'm including only those relevant to this blog or otherwise of interest to appellate practitioners.  To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith.

RT @kevinokeefe: For small law firms and solos, economic opportunity ahead. http://tinyurl.com/5o8fyu

Reading "Small Firms Trim a Little, but Stay Optimistic," http://tinyurl.com/658b3z. Seeing trickle-down as clients tire of BigLaw rates?

Reading "Republicans Win Appellate Court Nailbiter Races," http://tinyurl.com/6ax4fw. I'm quoted, and the article mentions my blog.

Reading "Jones victory good for 3rd Court," http://tinyurl.com/5tmrb5.

ALM affiliate asked me to write article on biz dev with emphasis on Twitter. My "live tweeting" a CLE & blogging about it caught attention.

First Assistant AG Kent Sullivan appointed to replace Justice Wanda Fowler on 14th Court of Appeals, http://tinyurl.com/5rbyov. 

The Texas Supreme Court posted a staff attorney position today. The job's with Justice Wainwright. Details at http://tinyurl.com/6eq5oo. 

Reading "Obama Presidency Is Good News for the Legal Profession," http://tinyurl.com/6ntwpg. 

Received two more media calls yesterday, one to comment on local election and another soliciting me to write an article for AmLaw affiliate.

Helping spread word that the 12th Court of Appeals (Tyler) has a staff attorney opening posted at http://tinyurl.com/6s5sma.

Reading "Shake-Up in the Judiciary," http://tinyurl.com/6fruc9. 

New at TALB: "Texas Appellate-Court Election Results," http://tinyurl.com/5q66ow. Very little change.

PDF of Fall Appellate Advocate now available at http://tinyurl.com/5pseo3, well ahead of print version.

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The Texas Supreme Court issued no new opinions with this week's orders.  After several quiet weeks, and now that the election is over, I would expect some decisions next Friday.

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Despite speculation that Democrats might pick up at least one spot, no Texas Supreme Court seats changed hands yesterday.  Chief Justice Jefferson and Justices Wainwright and Johnson each handily defeated their opponents, so the Court will remain all-Republican a while longer.  The Court of Criminal Appeals remained all-Republican as well.

The big news around these parts is former Justice Woodie Jones's (pictured) defeat of incumbent Third Court of Appeals Chief Justice Ken Law.  The media has covered this race thoroughly, so I'll just say that the Third Court will now be evenly divided, with three justices from each party.  (But rumor has it that one of the sitting justices might be leaving; I'll report on that when confirmed.)

With one exception (Eighth Court incumbent Kenn Carr), other intermediate court justices on the ballot kept their jobs, including recent Fourteenth Court appointees Jeff Brown and Bill Boyce.  Many of these races were very, very close.

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A sample of my microblog updates from the past week appears below.  I've decided to include only those relevant to this blog or otherwise of interest to Texas appellate practitioners.  To receive all of my updates, follow me on Twitter at at @dtoddsmith.

CNN.com linking to blog posts relevant to story. Picked up one of mine at http://tinyurl.com/6l7jgu (under "From the Blogs").

I'm featured in "Another example of how a 'business blogger' gets noticed" at Blog 4 Profit, http://tinyurl.com/6l9vz8. Thanks Grant!

Do I have other options for obtaining higher court review? 1 of "20 Questions About Texas Appellate Practice" at http://tinyurl.com/6oyzyb.

The reference appears on p. 15 at http://tinyurl.com/5ohmwp. Useful newsletter the SBOT Litigation Section started putting out this year.

New TX Bar Lit Sec newsletter: "Todd’s blog is an excellent daily source for notes and news about Texas appellate issues and happenings."

Reading "In Memoriam: Texas Plaintiffs Lawyer Fred Baron," http://tinyurl.com/6qsb7f. Say what you will, but he was one of the greats.

Referring attorney emailed to congratulate me on obtaining new trial. Says he's basking in residual glory; result made him look good too.

Reading "Cloud Computing: Is It Safe?" http://tinyurl.com/5vh76r.

Reading "Money Matters in 3rd Court of Appeals Chief Justice Race," http://tinyurl.com/5p65e6.

Reading "High Court Candidates Make Their Cases as Election Nears," http://tinyurl.com/5zzg9r.

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